The SAAF Forum

Hi there ladies and gents,

Well I finally decided to put some time into my R2Z these last few days.. seeing as I had the spare time.

I finally summed up the will power to make an effort to finish her, as I've gotten a new compressor for airbrushing (I always used to borrow my Uncle's).

Anyways.. so here is a review of parts used...

1 x Kfir aftermarket set (because it fits)

1 x Scaleworx Mirage RZ/R2Z conversion set

1 x Scaleworx 'Old School' SAAF Paint set... a brand new product.

1 x Italeri Mirage 3E.

Having built one of these Mirage kits before (as a Mirage 3EZ, using the same Kfir set). It didn't take me too long to get the kit together once I sat down and got stuck into it. As with the previous Mirage, I took the time to rescribe the whole thing as I HATE raised panel lines on a supersonic jet. That in itself is a labor of love indeed.

The Kfir stuff is not quite right, I think they got the dimensions wrong or something cause it just doesnt fit properly. Once the bangseat is in, there is no space between the panel and the front of the seat for the stick to fit nicely. Its a minor issue. I got the two after market Kfir sets because I was looking for something with a nice bit of detail that could work with both kits. Unless there are some rivet counters out there who know... they wont be able to tell really. As well as the gun fairings which also dont quite fit, they are vastly superior to the kit fairings.

I tried to paint/mod the panel slightly to resemble something more along the lines of an R2Z
\

Bang seat Pre-belts


Band seat Post-belts. I have since painted the harnesses




Which leads me to the Scaleworx kit. Included are... a nose cone, a new tail pipe, new splitter plates for the R2Z, the CRWS for the nose and the RWRs for the tail as well...and then the various antennae and fairings associated with the Mirage R2Z. However, my kit was slightly different as I was given a prototype tail pipe and wheels to see how they add to the kit.



All came cleanly cast (sadly I dont have pics of them all together), and were easy to seperate from their blocks and with a bit of cleaning up and sanding fit snugly.

Here she is before a dose of primer...


A bit closer of the 'pit


So now onto the nitty gritty. After sanding and adding filler and sanding and adding filler... and sanding again... I finally shot a coat of tamiya dark sea grey as a primer. She looks like she is wearing a scheme similar to that of the early Cheetah Es....







Here is a shot of with the finished bang seat


The 'pit, minus a stick.


Then I couldnt help myself, I dusted off the EZ (missing some pitots, I know... they just need to be reattached. Lets say she had a bird strike), and put the two together for a photo op








The EZ is awaiting some decals to arrive at which point I'll finish her.

The R2Z is having a few touch ups and fixes made to her.. and then she'll get her first coat of the Scaleworx paint. Will post pics.

Hope y'all enjoyed

_________________
When in doubt, use a hammer. The bigger the doubt, the bigger the hammer.

Keep it up. I'm watching.
I'm still dithering over my Mirage III's
A few months ago, I aquired my 2nd 1/48 Heller IIIB/C & Red Roo IIID resin conversion.
I had no intention to build a IIID, now it's an option if I change my mind.

Great work, the two aircraft side by side really look amazing !! Thanks for sharing the progress .. it's always cool to see the aircraft being built & not just the finnished model, & damn that bang seat is small.

Watching this space ...

Cheers

_________________
Brent Best

Hey Jeffrey,

I'm so tempted to get the Red Roo kit... could you maybe take some shots of the resin stuff? I've email them asking for pics but they wont send any to me.

Sigh.


But get off your arse and get moving on a Mirage 3. They are incredibly awesome looking jets when they're finished. I'm loving my R2Z. I cant wait to finish it....

_________________
When in doubt, use a hammer. The bigger the doubt, the bigger the hammer.

Really enjoyed that...I've always built models as is from the boxes[little sanding an adding here and there etc.] so its nice to see your building, it inspires and I feel like building again, and want to be more specific and detailed this time.
Thanks and keep em coming!
I'll post some pics soon

_________________
Ben
"I feel the need for speed!"

Portamus

There are some somewhat decent pictures of Red Roo's IIIO & IIID resin for sale on ebay.
In the search, enter: 1/48 Mirage. The first section at present has 19 items for bidding. In the second section (104 items found in eBay Stores), you will find a seller in Oz with these items.
First select the item, then click on the picture for a larger picture.
He also has items from High Planes. Look at that too.
From High Planes website: (www.hiplanes.com) you can get the exhaust on it's own for A$8 (Has mere depth than Red Roo from the picture) or cockpit tub with nose gear bay for $10 etc.

Wow Ben,

Thats the ultimate praise and reward right there! I dont think my building has ever inspired people before.. so thank you for that!!

The last 3 kits I've worked on (1 Imp and 2 Mirage 3s) have been the first time I've used tools like filler, sandpaper etc... and also my first kits using some form of aftermarket/scratch building). Its been a rather steep learning cure, and I can see the improvement already... from even just between the 2 Mirage kits. I think I'm gonna go and buy a new one to use for my Cheetah E kit, as I've really butchered it... or get another Cheetah E and build it in a hangar. Who knows? Thanks for the links, showed me exactly what I wanted to see.

My next big tasks are to master scratch building (harnesses etc)... and to start a diorama. I've got a 1/48 Spammy that I'm going to dedicate to my dad when its done... to remind him where he started flying,

I've got this idea- Spammy standing on the grass at Dunnotar in 1970.. with the instructor standing on the grass in flying kit, and the pupil in the pit ready to start. (I'm not sure how exactly guys were sent solo in the SAAF, and I dont wanna press my dad for details and give it away entirely)... Then have a small little placard or something with the date, location, and my dads name.

So far what I've found since I started to build again... is to always find a new challenge, and set new levels of detailing or finishing to strive for. So by constantly raising the bar, its always a challenge to get there.

Just my R.02

_________________
When in doubt, use a hammer. The bigger the doubt, the bigger the hammer.

When a pupil went solo a red sock/cloth was attached to the rear of the aircraft. Not sure where though, suspect rear wheel area.

I've once read that dried spices such as parsley, thyme and rosemary make great textures for grass in dioramas.

_________________
There's no such thing as a good or bad gun. A gun in the hands of a bad man is a very dangerous thing. A gun in the hands of a good person is no danger to anyone except the bad guy.

Yip,and if those dont work, we can use them in our next 'potjiekos'! No, sorry I couldnt help that one! I did train modelling a bit and they have wonderful items to create a diorama/panorama...but parsely sounds ok, rosemary a bit rough. "Are you going to scarborough fair...parsely sage rosemary and thyme..." Darn it ,I'm gonna get kicked off the forum

_________________
Ben
"I feel the need for speed!"

Hi there Gents.. time for an update!

After my last update, I've gotten to a point with the Mirage where I simply ran out of patience I think.

Do to a small blunder I made with the nose, I had to fill in the join seam completely and battled to rescribe the panel line that represents the nose cone/fuselage join. Eventually after a bit of a chat with John, and a few attempts (followed by some swearing and more filling/sanding).. I reached the 'f#kit' stage of the build. I'm not too happy with how it came out, but I'm too irritated to refill and resand it again.

Plus as was pointed out to me, by a good friend... I've jumped 6 levels of model building in one kit. From not using any filler/sandpaper/aftermarket/scratchbuilding... etc etc.. to this, is alot to go in a short amount of time. That put it in perspective... Thanks boet!!! I know you'll read this!

I've been talking alot with John (giving feedback on the paint and kit)... and his insights are worth their weight in gold.

Anyways... on with the pics!!!

So first to be painted was the canopy. Now some may ask why I painted the thing black?? Well its quite simple... The inside of the canopy frames are in fact black on the real aircraft. Now a quick trick to represent this easily, is to first paint the exterior of the canopy black. (As it is the bottom layer of paint, it is what will be seen on the 'inside' frame). Followed then by whatever camo scheme to be applied. This is easier/simpler/smarter than trying to paint the inside of the frame like an idiot.

Having mixed up some black it was obvious to kill 2 birds with 1 stone, and do the anti-dazzle triangle on the nose cone. After letting it all dry, I applied masking tape... marked the general shape with pencil... and then cut the masking tape with a scalpel blade and refitted it to the model.



Next to in line, are the camera openings in the nose. Now the conversion instructions recommend to cut the resin shapes out, and fill with Micro-crystal clear (to represent the lenses). Sadly I'm a chicken and didnt feel brave enough to attempt such advanced surgery just yet. So I hand brushed semi gloss black on the bays and let dry



After that.... I applied some Crystal Clear to the lenses to act as a mask (it can be peeled off at a later date)....


Now to introduce the latest characters, in this on going saga...


Larry, Curley and Moe.... Aka the Scaleworx 'Old School SAAF paint' set.

After bit of eyeballing reference pics of the RZ/R2Z I decided that it would be best to apply the light admiralty grey to the undersides first, and then mask that off, and apply the top camo later.


and now to dispel a myth, that XF-23 is close enough. While it may not be too clear in the pic... the XF-23 is too 'blue' if I can put it that way. As was bluntly put by John in a phone call 'because its light admiratly GREY... not blue'. However, I'm sure with a bit of patience, some good reference shots and some mixing one could get very close with XF-23 as a base.

So now with dry and masked off, the next thing was to get the correct camo pattern for 857. Now according to 'Aircraft of the SAAF'... "Basic current SAAF color scheme: All versions are camouflaged utilizing the standard French Air Force pattern."

True to certain extent. While the French scheme was the basis, individual aircraft all had slight differences between their schemes and markings. So to be sure, I hunted for a lot of ref shots of 857, as sadly I cant get pics of her now as she resides in Hangar 4 (I think) at AFB Ysterplaat... the restricted side. I've accumulated enough shots of her over the years to cover almost all angles, and lucky enough to possess a shot of 854 during a roll (so as to show her from the top). Based on these pics, I roughly drew out the scheme with a pencil.





I also happen to know that the SAAF tended to 'overhang' their camo on the underside leading edge of the wing. (Also pointed out by John). So that was also duelly masked off...


Then after some debate as to how which order to paint the thing... (with a helpful hint)... it was the green to go on first.
Spraying roughly the areas I marked out... she now resembles the Mirage 3 RZ at Swartkorps in grey and olive drab camo (836?).





This is where she sits now. I've been with the better half for the last 2 days, so shes had time to sit. I need to give the green another coat... just to keep a constant finish (may have been a bit thin in some points).

Voila.

Next pics posted will hopefully show her masked off and ready for the Deep buff coats.

Wish me luck!

_________________
When in doubt, use a hammer. The bigger the doubt, the bigger the hammer.

Fantastic work so far Portamus!

Thanks for the updates and keep it up Mate!

Trial and error... and practice makes perfect!

_________________
ArmA Border War Mod Site >>> http://www.armedassault.info/_hosted/bu ... index.html
---------------------------->>> BOMBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! <<<----------------------------

Amazing progress boet, It's starting to look really mean

I'm Looking forward to the next installment.

Cheers

_________________
Brent Best

Your photos have improved... the jet looks good too

Methinks my F-15 must come visit soon...

_________________
[Sardine]
My Photos: http://www.airplane-pictures.net/member ... .php?p=882
Blog: http://the-flying-fish.blogspot.com/, UPDATED on 13 September 2012

Keep it comming, I'm enjoying your pictures.
Your build is teaching me things I did not know, e.g. painting the canopy black first, had no idea that the frame was black inside.



NO, No, No! Put it down & take a break, if it's an hour or a few days. You have to regain your patience. Have to strive for a good result. In the end you will get better at it.

I would say that you should have gone the Micro-crystal clear route for the lenses. It's easier than all that scribing you did on the kit. If it goes wrong, you can remove it & try again. I had to learn how to apply it without tiny bubles. Practice it on scrap plastic, at least thats what I did.

If any one is interested, here is a link for a cockpit set for the Italeri/ESCI Mirage III kits.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/1-48-Neomega-Mirage- ... 1e59f31e3d

He's also offering F1 & Buccaneer sets. Neomega is made in Russia.

Looking forward to you next post Portamus!